The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2015 was the 19th round of the 2015 F1 season, and took place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on November 29th.
Nico Rosberg won the race from the pole, followed by Lewis Hamilton, and Kimi Räikkönen completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 42 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 4-11: 15 stops
- Laps 23-29: 13 stops
The fastest pit stop was Fernando Alonso's, stopping the clock at 16.128 seconds during his pit stop on lap 8, while the slowest one was was Fernando Alonso's, who stopped the clock at 44.990 seconds, 28.862 seconds slower than Alonso, during his pit stop on lap 1.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 2 stops. Only 1 driver tried a 1 stop, 3 drivers tried a 3 stops, and 1 driver tried a 4 stops.
The race winner, Nico Rosberg, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
1Roberto Merhi
2 stops
-
1Daniil Kvyat
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1Sergio Pérez
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1Daniel Ricciardo
-
-Felipe Massa
-
-Nico Hülkenberg
-
1Carlos Sainz
-
-Jenson Button
-
-Nico Rosberg
-
-Kimi Räikkönen
-
-Lewis Hamilton
-
3Marcus Ericsson
-
11Sebastian Vettel
-
9Romain Grosjean
-
1Will Stevens
3 stops
-
1Felipe Nasr
-
7Valtteri Bottas
-
5Max Verstappen
4 stops
-
1Fernando Alonso
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 1 positions, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.43 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 4.33 positions, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Yas Marina Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 1 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, .
Collision
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Pastor MaldonadoLap 0
Qualifying
Nico Rosberg managed to get the pole position by 0.377 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:40.237. Lewis Hamilton was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 11 out of the 14 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.